The Voice Top 8 Results Recap: Did the Right Two Contestants Go Home? [Updated]

Remember last summer when ABC aired the Kelly Clarkson-fronted reality competition Duets? [Cue sound of crickets chirping.] No? Well, the part of me that watches too much reality TV (aka my heart, soul, brain and spleen) likes to think the producers of NBC’s The Voice paid secret homage to their fallen rival during the Season 4 Top 8 results telecast.

Yes indeed, while the main focus of tonight’s show was — as Carson Daly reminded us at the top of the hour — watching eight become six, there was nevertheless a parallel to the very best late-night infomercials via a “But wait, there’s more!” addendum. Said Easter eggs came in the form of a quartet of contestant duets — a couple of ’em quite terrific, two of ’em fairly inscrutable — that gave the Top 8 one more chance to shine before the guillotine got wheeled onto the stage.

This was also the episode that proved you simply can’t predict who’s going home based on iTunes sales alone. While Holly Tucker, Judith Hill and Sasha Allen ranked as the week’s Bottom 3 sellers on the digital music service (with Sasha in dead last), only one of ’em saw her Voice journey reach its conclusion. Let’s get to the results, shall we?

Final Four Left in Limbo
Holly Tucker
Judith Hill
Amber Carrington
Sarah Simmons

Final Two Saved
Amber Carrington
Holly Tucker (Whoa! That’s three country blondes — and the entirety of Team Blake — in the Top 6!)

Eliminated
Judith Hill
Sarah Simmons

To me, the week’s results and the overall arc of Season 4 says that risk-taking simply doesn’t get rewarded by Voice voters. Or, if we’re paraphrasing the Teachings of the Hare, slow and steady (and fairly predictable) might end up winning this race. Also: People love Blake Shelton, or at least they’re responding to his silly “Oh em gee you are the most IMPORTANT thing to happen to music” feedback to his trio of contestants.

A few other thoughts and theories before we get to letter grades for the duets:

* Judith definitely had the buzziest Blind Audition with “What a Girl Wants,” but taking a brutally hard look at her full Voice trajectory, I can’t say anything she did in the weeks that followed quite managed to match that eye-popping Christina Aguilera cover. This isn’t to say Judith deserved to go home before lesser talents like Sasha or Holly or The Swon Brothers, but momentum and the illusion of “growth” both matter in reality singing competitions, and Judith had neither of those advantages. Perhaps just as damaging: Judith’s outré hairstyles and fashion choices may have alienated voters who like to see a star bloom in front of their eyes — and reminded the world that as Michael Jackson’s former duet partner, she had the advantage of industry experience (and the ability to tap into said experience should she not make the finale).

* Sarah, meanwhile, looked like a serious contender during the early weeks of the competition, but Coach Adam did her no favors by not reining in her growing tendency to, um, “explore” the most unpleasant edges of her vocal tone. Last week’s “Mama Knows Best” was a screeching tirade, and Wednesday’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” suffered from intermittent pitch problems. (Plus, it’s one of those songs that really needs another few years on the shelf before the general populus wants it brought back out into the sunlight.) I know she had a decent iTunes showing this week, but I’m not entirely shocked or saddened to see her exit.

* Interesting that Blake yelled “bullcrap!” after Adam said at the top of the show that his own team wasn’t going to ever “play it safe.” Defensive much?

* Also interesting that Shakira started off the show by admitting that if Sasha got booted, “it’s because her coach made a mistake [in terms of song selection].” I’m not sure I agree with that contention — to me, Sasha overwrought style and tendency to go flat are far bigger issues — but it was nice to see Shakira’s lack of ego (on a show where coaches have, well, healthy sized ones).

* Michelle Chamuel biting into a head of iceberg lettuce like it was an apple: Rated Y…for Yikes! (She’s still just so lovely though, isn’t she?)

* Could Christina Milian please come up with a better question than, “How does it feel to be saved by America?” I mean, how does she THINK it feels? URGH!

As for grades for the night’s duets…

Michelle & Judith: “Sweet Nothings” | The verses may have been pitched a wee bit low for Michelle, and the vibrato may have gotten laid on a little too thick by Judith, but the song fit quite well with both of their vibes, and they soared nicely when it counted. Grade: B+

Sasha & The Swon Brothers: “Don’t You Wanna Stay” | From the airplane “delayed” graphics on the backdrop to Sasha’s gale-force riffing dominating the Swon boys like a cheetah with a field mouse, this was a deeply peculiar pairing — with dubious results. Grade: C+

Danielle & Sarah: “1,000 Years” | The good news is Danielle’s restraint seemed to be contageous, prompting Sarah to focus more on the lilting melody. The bad news? I felt the Lunesta butterfly circling overhead by the midway point. Grade: B-

Amber & Holly: “Does He Love You?” | It’s not easy stepping out of Reba’s formidable shadow, but this pair of power divas completely unleashed their beast-sized voices for a throwdown of Godzilla-vs.-Mothra proportions. Absolutely terrific! Grade: A

And with that, let me turn things over to you. What did you think of Season 4 Top 8 results night? Did the right contestants get the boot? Sound off in the comments, and for all my reality-related news, recaps, interviews and videos, follow me on Twitter @MichaelSlezakTV!

Wow, so two of the “front-runners” get knocked out in one fell swoop? I must say I’m surprised. I personally didn’t like that unpleasant “bleating, wailing” sound that that Sarah’s voice sometimes had. As for Judith, maybe the viewers thought she was too good for this show. I’m still trying to figure out how Holly (who performed near the beginning of the show) managed to make it over them. I guess the country vote is alive and strong!

TV Line – when I make a comment why does it take me all the way back up to the top of the article?? Sometimes I’m looking thru and want to comment but then have to scroll back down to find my place of where I left off (reading thru) and it’s not so easy. Please update your system so it automatically appears without refreshing!

Not sure I really agree with some of the above ,
But , Sarah has a horrible cover that she did not make work, as for Judith , I liked her song , but it was more then just a little out there in left field ,
Amber though almost got killed the other night , she was not bad , BUT , after you hear Adele singing Skyfall its hard to stand up and cheer over the Amber version that sounded ,, light , and lacking the depth that song needed

Amber’s version of Skyfall was anything BUT light. Listen to Adele’s live Oscar performance, then Amber’s. Both are great! Amber more than proved her ability to hit notes that Adele did not attempt in her live performance. She took the song to a new level, IMO! Every one of the coaches praised her performance, as well as, many of the viewers who have watched her performance many more times than any of the other voice artists from Monday night! (Look at the number of youtube views and comments) She is Amazingly talented!!! I think the coaches set Judtith, Sarah, and Danielle up in everyone’s mınds as the frontrunners. They declared them as the one to beat, and/or that the others would have to work hard to measure up. What the truth is is how they do in sales, and what the publics desire is to hear them again after the show. Because everyone just believed that to be true, now all are shocked by the results. Amber, along with Michelle have continued to grow, and pull in fans as they stretch themselves. Amber has proved she can sing any kind of music, as she has followed Adam’s lead and pushed herself to newer and higher levels. I really think anyone who fells differently should go open YouTube shut their eyes and listen to the individual voices.

Its the audience , and at least the show picked a mix of contestants that could all sing ,
The only issue I had was with song selection , I think in that case that Adam made some errors that hurt his singers ,
That said its still a superior product if you compare it to American Idol ,

I don’t think risk taking is always a bad thing. Dia Frampton in season 1 took lots of risks and made it to the finale. Melanie from last year didn’t make the finale but she came close and she took tons of risks. Tony Luca took a HUGE risk singing that Britney song and he made it to the finale. You have to take the RIGHT risks at the RIGHT time. Judith’s choice and how she did it was just AWFUL. She is not as special as she’s been made out to be! Michelle needs to win this season, Amber to come in 2nd IMO.

I am *only* watching for Michelle. I will be less interested when/if she is voted off. I wonder if it is true that voters don’t like risk-taking. It’s not like any of the *risks* that were *taken * have had good/pleasant/or even satisfactory results. If you are going to take a risk, it had better be good. Why should they be rewarded if the song is risky but they didn’t really sing it well or were just downright awful? I would argue that everything about Michelle is unconventional, ie, risky (from her look to her sound) – but everything that comes out of her mouth is also moving or beautiful in some way. Note: She is still there.

At least the risk may keep it interesting and if every risk has to be the perfect, rousing 100% success well then you may as well just dig a hole and bury creativity because you can’t be creative if you are afraid to fail now and then. You just get the same old Bland, Bland, Bland.

I really wasn’t paying much attention to the others and was surprised as anyone that Judith was knocked out. However, with that being said I was THRILLED that Michelle (from Massachusetts – YEA!) was chosen. I think Michelle has the VOICE….. reminds me of Streisand! And look where that went! – WOW!

There are a number of reasons that the Country artists are progressing so well. Partly, Blake Shelton is very popular right now and is a very good ambassador for the Country genre. Country in general is very popular right now and has several artists who regularly cross over. Another reason is that country music is basically a crisp, clear sounding, story related genre that most can relate to. I know that all of the hillbilly/redneck lore makes it seem ridiculous, but, country makes more sense than the other genres in general…it is a more intelligible sound! I am not saying that there are not great and smart sounding Pop artists (Bruno Mars and Adele come to mind of course), but, there has been a lot lacking for the past few years now too. All I am trying to say is that Country music is easier to listen to and easier to relate to currently.

Totally agree, could it be that since the east coast gets to vote until 10 am the next day while west coasters have to have their votes in by 7Am that the numbers are skewing for the country music artists? Wish they could fix that!!! Would love to vote by 9AM PST.

I don’t like all the Country, either. (Don’t they have their own networks, singing competitions, etc? Isn’t it time for Blake to go on hiatus and give us a break?) I’ll stick around and vote for Michelle but if she goes, so do I.

I just used my two days off to do a voice marathon. I want Sasha to go far for her coach. But why she did not pick Shauna, Karina, Cathia is crazy. I think Danielle will be the first time The Voice will produce a star. She has that ‘it’ factor and having Blake Shelton as a coach is helpful too. Michelle, I don’t get her. But, I can see she is really inspiring to some.

Not only that, TVLine deletes comments, too. Anything that is staunchly against their favorites. Perfectly clean, well-expressed ones, too, with no cuss words whatsoever. So much for the First Amendment. Thank God Ausiello will never be US Prexy.

Jesus. It was a play on words. You know, about stifling freedom of speech, which encompasses freedom of the press, freedom of public expression, and all that jazz. I guess you guys also thought that I meant it when I said Ausiello running against Obama was ever a possibility. Geez. Stop being so literal and learn to read between the lines.

Good for you then. I’ve had mine deleted more than once before. So have a couple of my friends’ comments. Mostly on Mitovich’s articles. I’ve stopped commenting elsewhere on the site, but I’ve been I’ve been a fan of Michael since his EW days, so here I am. (Damn you, Slezak!)

@leepreferstrouble that is interesting and unfortunate. I comment here primarily because I have not had (on topic, non-crude) comments deleted here like I have on other Reality TV sites. But I usually comment on Slezak articles here.

Yeah I don’t think Slezak deletes anything, unless it’s maybe over the top crude perhaps, regardless of what you say or even if you get all over his case. Maybe other parts of the site are different but he seems to be plenty fair, he can dish it but also take it and people write stuff against his favs and I’ve never seen it go away even if ten messages in a row.

You apparently have not been on the Atlanta Journal and Constitution(AJC) website lately. Theirs is atrocious. It’s a new blog format that is from the Stone Ages. Bad, very, very, bad! This one has a few minor aggravations, but are fixable.

And sorry for the diversion from the article! I am actually a fan of the Voice but wanted to post where someone from TV Line might actually see (since my problems usually occur when trying to post for AI or the Voice since there are so many comments). Michael – I’m talking to you.

Not quite…Judith was consistently at the bottom…Sarah was doing quite well in iTunes sales. All this shock and awe that Judith got the boot is weird since she was way down the iTunes chart. The shock should really be that Sarah was voted off when Sasha, holly and Judith were way behind her on the charts. I guess people who love Sasha don’t seem to want to ever buy her music??? Anyways, just to correct you, Sarah in all other weeks charted in the top four except for last night when she was fifth.

I think the majority of the people buying the Itunes are probably teenagers, which would play into Michelle, Danielle, Amber. I hate how people gage the show based on Itunes sales. I think Sasha is amazing. People keep saying she isnt a great singer and it truly confuses me. She is so powerful, and to think the Swon Bros are still in this competition, which is a vocal competition is truly mind boggling.

Sasha is still there because so many people like Shakira and dont want to see her be without a contestant. She is ok but Sarah and Judith were both better. Dont underestimate the power of the right coach. Even Michelle is riding somewhat on the power of having the complete backing of Usher. She is ok but ordinarily would be out by now if it were not for Usher accepting her and her awkwardness completely allowing people to say heh maybe her voice is pretty cool. I will be disappointed if Danielle does not win. Someone check her birth certificate….. ;-)

Michelle generally averages the most views and is always in the top 50 on iTunes.
That’s not because Usher is backing her otherwise why wasn’t judith safely riding off of Adams fanbase?
Michelle captivates the audience hence why she’s still there. Excuse your ignorant statements

@Kristi: This was EPIC, I predicted a Judith FAILURE. Just by her Diva like performances the past few weeks. Especially, this week. Her skyscraper hair do got more buzz than her singing. The way she dresses, it’s over the top silly! American got tired of her. NOT surprised a bit! Holly has the country votes and Texas behind her which is BIG! Yippy Skippy!

Eh. Judith has always bored me. I thought her audition was great. But after that? Meh. And Sarah’s voice got old and fast. I didn’t see either as frontrunners. The only frontrunner is Danielle. It always has been. Clearly, Blake’s fanbase is not playing. They will and have backed him and his contestants. I don’t want a Danielle win, but she is gonna win.

billybob have you actually watched any of the current singers in todays world. Her look is perfect. It’s theatrical. Most current female singers dress “over the top.”
Wow weird comment. And I’m one of the America and I’m not tired of her. Most of the others yes, but not Judith.

I agree jaxguy. Take a look at 10 random pics of Lady Gaga and you’ll see how “normal” Judith looked. Unfortunately we have to wait until season 5 to see if The Voice can serve up a star. Even if the beloved Michelle wins, she will fizzle like a Fourth of July firecracker and be done. Judith was the only hope this season.

Michelle will fizzle like a 4th of July firecracker is dang right, but Danielle will sizzle like butter on a frying pan… a superstar! Danielle to The Voice will be like Carrie Underwood to American Idol. Yippy ki ya!

Texas is pretty divided since Danille, Holly, and Amber are all from Texas.! I love all three so it’s hard to choose, so I vote for all 3. (I’m from Texas, btw). AND the ones I wanted to go home DID. Next week will be tough! I love the country contestants and I’m not even a country fan! This has been the best, most talented Voice season so far!!

It’s about song choice. Period. If people don’t like the songs, they are not going to vote. The coaches should have taken a note from Idol this year as the top 3 girls always sang the right song for their voice and only took risk if the song was not in their genre but they made it their own. That is what people respond to.

No, I don’t think it was ‘about song choice, period.” I’m one of those weird people that is fascinated by human behavior. What makes one person likeable or successful, and another person, NOT. I spend far more time that “normal” using my DVR to replay snippits of footage that most folks wouldn’t pay attention to. I found Sarah and Judith to be two “Inviting” subjects.
For many people, Sarah was very odd. While she started out strong, her voice became more and more ill-delivered. Plus that “performance face” she had which usually resembled pain and neediness. Uh uh. The piece de resistance was the way she stood at the results show. Looking STRAIGHT ahead, zero emotion, no flinching…SO odd.
And Judith…. I mean, Michael hit the nail on the head. I think she did alienate some viewers. While she sounded great, this girl seemed to display very little humility – which a lot of people find off-putting. It was all ‘show & go’ for her. When it came down to her and her two teammates last night and Carson said, “From Adam’s team..” she actually moved her whole body as if it was her. When it wasn’t – that was the FIRST time I’ve seen her sincerely nervous or uncomfortable this entire competition! Oddly enough (also), when Holly won, she couldn’t even offer her words or a hand or anything. Whatever “that” is that’s required in those situations, she absolutely was incapable of it. She just stood – arm’s length – and smiled.
So ya – for all the reasons the Swon Brothers ARE still in the competition (and aren’t the top singers) – these girls are not.

I think you are both right although I wish you were not and that Ronnie was only a little bit right. Fact is reality TV viewers seem to be obsessed with judging supposed personality. Real world of music it’s different. Maybe it still comes into play a bit, but in a very different way and it’s not like all high school lunch table way as it seems to be for reality TV. I mean look at how so some of the biggest sellers I history carries themselves and yet on TV they’d be lucky to survive one round because they appeared lacking in humility or whatever. I swear half the comments on this forums are about supposed personality. Look at a sports forums though and it is so much less so and if even if some sports star does annoy people if he performs most are still all for him.

Eh. I don’t feel they were front runners. Judith was the most polished. But she wasn’t leaps and bounds ahead of the others. There was and is a thin dividing all of the contestants. The lucky ones have Blake’s fan base on their side. But the winner is short and blonde and named Danielle. The only surprise would be – if she doesn’t win. I am not saying I want her to. I love Michelle and Amber so I am quite happy with results. And a shocker results show is always good TV. This show just got interesting again.

Danielle has a great voice but is totally blah. Compare her to someone like Kacey Musgraves and you will know the difference between a good singer and a star. I hope Michelle wins because her voice and personality are alive and interesting. But Danielle has got texas on her side and god and country….

Ai Ai captain Bikini! Didn’t you love Judith as the bird lady with the Marge Simpson hair do? Was was she thinking. Her over the top diva like outfits took away from her main focus, vocals. Yes, a petite blonde 16 year old named Danielle is in for the win!

I’m surprised along with you. This is such an incredibly wonderful show this year. All four judges have an unbelievable chemistry and the blend of their talents and personalities is simply magic … with a host and producer to match. The talent is so strong this year, not just in terms of musicality but in terms of how they present themselves as people. As I said before, just wonderful. The only disappointments in the mix are the public. Unbelievable that people in general could be so wrong to vote off Judith Hill … one of the top three performers by any measure. I think it’s great to involve the “public,” but this voting was just not right when it comes to Hill. The goal should be to have the greatest talent in the final four. It says to me that the public should only be given partial decision making power until the final pairing, and then maybe they should only get part of the vote.

@Rob- Judith was an early favorite of mine. I like her still. If she’d have stayed I would have been fine. I disagree on her being one of the top 3 performers by any measure. I think if the judges had a say, there’s no way it’s a sure thing she survives. I think they’re all close enough that it’s more a personal preference thing. I think America has pretty much gotten it right so far.

I couldn’t agree more Luiz and Lee! I would buy anything by any of Adam’s team over anyone on the other teams (with the exception of Michelle). Sasha? Ugh! How did she survive? I’m so incredibly disappointed with these results. *sigh*

I see, the “Crowd” is all those dummies that listen to yucky country music, and the cool kids only listen to pop/rock? Let me tell you something: the “Cool kids” are not even watching this show, so let it go.

It’s nothing to do with cool or not. It’s that the country block tends to be a bit more monolithic and has a lot of voting power. Is Blake’s team THAT much better than any other team? If he wins ever year will it be because he always has the best contestants and always makes the best choices? How come Tate was #1 more or less every single week no matter whether he had a poor week or a great week and no matter how anyone else did?

How come more than 90% of Idol winners are from a single part of the country (not that they were all the same style by any means though) and all but one of the winners was from that region or seemed like they were a fit? It is a little curious. It’s hard to do statistics on such things and with such small numbers, but it does seem at least a bit curious.

Rob, what are you thinking??? It is the PUBLIC who votes for entertainers everyday when they purchase CD’s or download itunes. There would no artists without the public’s support. Of course, they should decide who goes forward on the show. After all, it will be the public who purchases these contestants products after the show is over. If not the public, who would you give decision making power to instead? Record producers who do this for a living everyday listen to the public in making the decision to sign or not to sign new artists or to keep and support existing artists. Who is more expert than the buying public? They know what they like and what they don’t and they vote with their hard-earned dollars.

@Kristi- Yea, they were my 2 favs back when the show started. I think others passed em up though. They’re still good. If they’d have stayed I would have been fine with it. We’re simply at the point now where no matter who goes home, it’s someone who’s pretty good. This beats waiting for a bowling pin to fall. Now it’s just a matter of personal preferences.

I cannot believe 2 of the top 3 singers got voted out of a show called “The Voice”. I think the Swon brothers are talented but their journey on the show should have been over some time ago. Nostalgia is nice and I completely appreciate and love George Jones but let’s get honest here! Blake I love your music and great personality but this good ole boy thing with the Swon brothers is trying my last nerve! I love country music and I mean absolutely no disrespect to the brothers but I am not hearing the originality. I disagree with the last comment about Holly. If you listen to her voice it is literally unbelievable. That said, Amber is one of my 3 favourites with Sarah & Judith. Sorry, really feel Danielle comes across insincere and fluffy which I chalk upto experience. Sorry, Danielle you are likely an extremely great young woman but I don’t agree that it always comes across in your performances and I think your narration needs some work. Again, sorry.

If people were truly listening tonight, Sarah Simons wiped the floor with Danielle. I say that and feel bad as I am being critical of a 16 year old but Sarah could give a master class in vocals.

As for Judith, she should already have a serious career and recording contract.

I for one am so glad to see the Swon Brothers continuing in the contest. They are multi-talented and are the first duo to make it this far. They make for a great change of pace. They are also very versatile. I have seen them perform live several times since I live close to their home. They do everything from current country, rock, even some bluegrass. They (especially Zach) play multiple instruments and write a lot of their own music. Not every Voice contestant has to be a pop star. I am sick of pop, pop, pop.

@dmcdowell When you say versatile, do you mean in regards to the show their a nice change, or as artists? I am not being rude, I am truly interested. Because although they may have been versatile as artists in the local performances you have seen, that has not translated through their performances on The Voice, at least not to me. At first, I did think they were a nice change of pace, but now I guess I just don’t “get” them.

This is the first time in recent weeks that the Swon Brothers were not among the most memorable of the night. I am not surprised they are still there. They might go next week if they have another night like this where you could hear the background singers as much as them.

America hasn’t supported great music in years. They cry about boring and bland but when you challenge them they recoil. they want boring and bland just look at most of the winners of these singing shows.Just listen to Phillip Phillips latest song. Close your eyes and tell me that it doesn’t sound JUST LIKE MUMFORD AND SONS. If you say it doesn’t you need your hearing checked. I bite my tongue as I say this, but with the exception of Michelle this show just got bland and boring after tonight and I don’t care who wins and won’t be following it the rest of the season.

Judith’s problem is obviously not her singing. After the audition rounds the show goes from being “The Voice” to “The Personality” and Judith’s personality doesn’t come across the TV like that of Holly or the Swon Brothers (i.e. less talented singers than Judith).

This is what I’m saying! I’m telling you, I can still picture the final minutes of that Results Round. Judith grew absolutely incredulous that she was standing there, among the “Low Vote Getters” of the group. I”m thinking this is a girl that’s not been “low” in anything she endeavors. Sadly, she had NO idea what to do or how to act – her whole body was flinching and twitching. I mean, whatever. But no, her problem was NOT the singing.

It’s very clear that southern voters are a force to be reckoned with… Kellie Pickler beat out Zendaya (and the two winners before her were from Texas), the final two of American Idol were both southerners (as were the past several winners) and Team Blake has won the last two seasons of Voice (and will win this season as well). I personally find the country music sung on reality shows to be easy to perform and very safe and predictable…

Sorry folks, but do you really believe that the voting makes a difference? I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t think the voting or the iTunes purchases have anything to do with who advances and who doesn’t. I believe it is all scripted. I believe that the network has already decided who will be the eventual winner. They are all talented singers. It is a compelling show, but there is a reason that the winners in past years have not gone on to successful recording or entertainment careers. The “voice” is only part of the equation. Enjoy the performances and get over it….

Sarah & Sasha were jus terrible, and as great as Danielle was, her song choice was really bad. Holly doesn’t have ‘it’. So, other than Danielle, there were three really easy picks to go. Unfortunately, the voting didn’t quite reflect that.

I will say that I think Blake Sheltons personality is going a long way to promoting his group. I watch and I see that he is trully enjoying his job. The chances are good that one of his group will win. Glad Judith is gone. Over the top performances- with hair, costumes and songs. Save that for your vegas show. Too much for the Voice competition. I will not be sad if Michelle wins! Enjoy watching her every week.

I think they meant Judith’s performance was too much for The Voice show. If Judith was already an established star and had her own tour or show, then yes, go ahead and be like Lady Gaga, J. LO, Christina, or Madonna on your performances. But you’re competing against other contestants and the goal is to win the votes of America. Going over board like it’s your own show is just plain arrogant! Especially when the all the other contestants did not go overboard. Apparently, the voters did not support Judith’s performance. Also, see my comment below.

The only thing arrogant is for petty viewers to claim a contestant doing that is arrogant (and some others did stuff somewhat along those lines the first two seasons and made the finale). It’s some of the viewers who need to get over themselves and their issues.

I just don’t get the “arrogance” that Judith supposedly displays. I think people read too much into what she’s doing or not doing just because they don’t like her. You don’t have to like her, but to accuse her of “arrogance” is just plain judgmental.

Yeah I do get the feeling that most of the stuff people read into contestant personalities has little to do with the contestants’ personalities and more to do with the particular viewer. I mean not always, but very often it seems so. It also seems like a lot of viewers of these shows are into some sort of HS gossip kind of stuff compared to other sorts of contestants or events.

I thought Judith just appeared arrogant on the show but apparently I was wrong. She is, in fact, unbelievably arrogant along with those who agree with her! America is not a bunch of backwards hill billy hicks who lack the sophistication to properly appreciate just how amazing she is. On the contrary, we are a very diverse culture where differences in opinion up to and including musical taste is encouraged and accepted. We don’t need to be limited to ‘small doses’ of her style because we’re too simple minded to understand if she ‘goes all the way’. The fact is she didn’t get enough support from the voters to remain in the competition. It wasn’t just this last performance either. Coming into the top 8 round, she was, by far, the worst performer on iTunes and this week she only just edged out Sasha finishing at #70 overall and way behind all the others. In a competition where votes decide the winner, it’s not the voter’s fault for not voting for a particular contestant but that contestant’s fault for failing to win the voter’s support. I wasn’t that fond of Judith’s performances on the show but thought she was amazingly talented and was looking forward to her 1st album with the intention of buying it. That won’t be happening now. I don’t reward arrogance!

I loved Sarah Simmons! I’m so bummed she’s gone! I thought Holly, Judith and Sasha were a bit weak last night, but I think Sarah killed it! I voted for her and bought her iTunes too! This makes me so sad!

I didnt think she was going to win, but I like her sound. It’s different than the rest of the crowd. She’s not the typical country voice that four (Danielle, Holly, Amber, and the Swon bros) of the remaining contestants have. And she’s not the typical powerhouse voice like Sasha or Judith. She had power but she can also reign it in and she’s got that distinct rasp on top of it. I liked it. It was a little different and after a few rather disappointing songs yesterday, I didnt think she deserved to go home. I was thinking it was Judith, Sasha or Holly, especially seeing people buying Sarah’s music on iTunes. Just kind of a shame, if you ask me.

I think Sarah’s problem is she doesn’t know what to do with all she can do. In time, if she reigns it in and controls it all she might be very good. She has lots of tools, so many tools, but they tend to be all tossed in randomly at times. Like even with her Sarah song she tossed in so many weird things and messed up a simple melody.

@HTGR. Right on. It was just too much in such a short period of time – it was overwhelming. She can certainly can sing – but a lot these singers need to learn how to control their power and their instrument. It is *not* about doing everything at once all the time….

@Maris- I had thought that’s what he said. I didn’t care for that comment in the least. I know he said it in an emotional state of mind. I’m sure he doesn’t care what I think. I’m not gonna hold it against him forever. That comment didn’t set to well w/ me though.

I definitely agree with Adam. The fact that Blake is the only coach with his entire team still intact is just ridiculous. What is wrong with America?! Sasha, Holly or the Swon Bros should’ve left this week

Thank you…a lot of the people who post here seem to pay no attention to iTunes. I’m all about wanting to hear how they sound in recordings not just on the show to see if I want to buy their music. Sarah has been doing quite well in iTunes and she records AMAZING. I’ve bought almost every one of her songs. It was a really poor song choice by Adam and yet she still was fifth—-way way above Judith, holly and Sasha. The real shock last night was not Judith going home, but Sasha and holly staying instead of Sarah. Judith’s voice was a tad grating therefore never downloaded her. All those people who just love Sasha…why aren’t they buying her music??? Anyways, no interest in watching the rest of the mediocre voice.

Just a thought here. I have been reading all of these comments and no one has yet to wonder what will happen when the country vote is split 3 or possibly 4 ways and Michelle picks up Judith and Sarah’s votes. Could happen you know. That would be justice. I will buy Judith’s first album. Loved her. Thought she resembled Tina Turner and Thunderdome Monday night. Cool look. Better than sitting on a front porch singing bland songs. And the duet with the Swons and Sasha was so bad. No way was it close to Aldean and Clarkson. The Voice needs to look at the reason behind the lack of success of their winners as compared to the A.I. winners and runner ups. Just saying.

This was one of the dumbest results shows of the entire season. Sarah was off last night, but still better than Swon Brothers or Holly. People complain that Judith came off as stiff…have you seen Holly? She looked like a robot waiting for the results to be read. She shows no emotion, has no personality, and doesn’t have near the talent that Judith or Sarah does. I love country music, and I enjoy Blake Shelton, but these “talent” competitions get ruined when it’s not actually about talent or the singers. On The Voice it’s all about the coaches.

Should have been Holly and Sasha going home. We have seen enough of all of them at this point to know who has a real shot in the music industry and who does not. Those two both have serious flaws that will prevent them from being successful on a mainstream level (they can both probably have careers in niche audiences).

Tricky calls at this point but probably shoulda been two of: Holly, Sarah, Swon. I think Michelle, Amber, Sasha, Danielle, Judith are ahead of those three, although all three have done some nice things.

Who listens to music objectively, especially at this level? People like what they like, so of course they’re typing with bias. You’re in the wrong place if you’re looking for an objective conversation about contestants on The Voice.

Fair enough…it doesn’t have to be a support group, though. Some modicum of objectivity for this not to be a total fanclub. Michael seems to try to recap objectively…so a discussion of who is better by some shared standard isn’t absurd.

Holly has a nice voice, but so does about 1 million others, she has no charisma, stage presence or appeal outside of her being on Team Blake and getting the loyal country votes. If she was on any other team….goodbye. Is there any truth to the rumor that they are moving the show from LA to the Grand Ole Opry? This is getting a little tired with the voting…

People talk about song selections, but choosing a song for a 16 year old every week is the toughest task on any of these talent shows. Many, many songs will be considered “too old” for Danielle and the ones in her wheelhouse will often be considered too corny, too safe or not challenging enough. I always try to imagine what a young singer will be like in two or three years rather than focusing too much on a handful of covers from a tv talent show. Danielle is a very good vocalist and there is every reason to believe she will be outstanding very soon. I think Danielle has a much purer voice than Cassadee and yet few people seemed to be bothered by Cassadee’s cruise control frontrunner status last season. I think Danielle will be challenged much more by Michelle and Amber than Cassadee was by Terry or Nicholas. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion like it was last year. Michelle and Amber are much better imo than Nicholas and Terry. I think Amber really deserves to win, but I won’t be bothered if Danielle or Michelle wins the season.

“Michelle and Amber are much better imo than Nicholas and Terry.” No this is dead on. I would love to see Michelle and Amber go as far as they can. They are interesting and their voices have so many nuances. Should be interesting.

Michelle is a great story and has talent. But this has turned into a popularity contest, not a singing contest. Are peoples ears plugged? Holly, Michelle or Swan brothers can out sing the two eliminated tonight?!? I don’t care for Judith much…. but she can sing anything she wanted…. anything! Like I stated before,tonight was pretty disappointing. Country artists singing about grandpa and ma and pa. Amber is amazing, since this is a support country music year.. I hope she wins!

But if you didn’t care for Judith much, then you probably didn’t spend your time voting for her. That’s what happens. It is not just about being able to hit the notes. You have to have performances that people enjoy and want to listen to again. Otherwise people won’t spend their time voting.

I feel as if America doesn’t want to break up teams at this stage. It’s like Shakira and Sasha have a genuine bond, usher and Michelle are totally having a bromance and Blake’s team are like his children. Adam, on the other hand, is referring to his team as having ice water in their veins.

I just wouldn’t ever pick Adam as a coach. I don’t think he’s as good a coach as he is a personality, hottie and vocalist.

Oh, TOTALLY agree, Tim. While I believe that Judith had an ‘out of body’ experience as she slowly fell in the rankings and NO ONE is as stiff as Sarah in the line-up – I was F-Floored when Holly was chosen to stay! I mean, come ON! Holly might be able to sing a little bit – but as a music teacher at church or for the baseball “first pitch” in town. Seriously America!
But then again, I’m apparently one of the oh-so-few people that DOES NOT “get” the Danielle bruha. Wonderful, empirically gifted singer? Abso-friggin-lutely. But when I listen to her and watch her I want to snap my fingers in front of her eyes like, (snap snap) “Hello? Anybody Home?” You know, nice house, no one there, kind of thing.
Oh stop! I know she’s there! I guess personally, I just need more than 3 years of living behind the stories of my songs, that’s all!

I can’t give Danielle as much credit as you do; she is JUST NOT all that good. Blake has managed to pull the wool over the eyes of viewers with his constant BS about her. Her voice is good, but not great. Better than Holly, maybe better than Sasha, but DEFINITELY not as good as Amber or Michelle. Unfortunately, the damage is already done and she will probably win.

Totally agree. 4 Country artistsleft + Michelle + Sasha. Probably next week Sasha will go, and we will be left with the countries vs. Michelle. I am done with the show. I love the initial rounds: blind auditions, battle rounds, playoffs and that is it!! Best luck to Shak!!! I voted for #teamshakira all the way.

I’m not. She’s good — but she didn’t live up to that. Last night’s song choice and performance did her in. It wasn’t good — and Adam should have steered her away for that horrible song. I think she could have been great, but people don’t vote on could have.

You know why, don’t you? Adam is love or lust stricken with his new found Super Model. SI model Nina Agdal, the same one who went to a kids HS prom last week. So his mind is kinda messed up, you know… puppy love and all? :)

Finally someone who sees clearly the amazing job Judith did with that song! It didn’t resemble the (awful) original at all! For me, Amber was the best, she knocked that song out of the park last night, but Judith was a very close second, and there’s no doubt she was terrific!

Judith was my wife and my favorite until last night. Thought her last two performances were not strong and last night’s song was not the direction that we thought she could go. I even forgot to vote after supporting her the previous two weeks. The only consolation is that she will have a career somewhere.

I hope your wifey Judith has a great career too! But to be honest with you, she’ll just end up being a great backup singer. Maybe, you can tell your wifey to try out for AGT, X-Factor, or American Idol.

Life’s leasons:
A) Sometimes cheaters do get the trophy.
B) The hardest worker doesn’t always get the raise.
C) The best leader doesn’t always get the promotion
D) Looks do count
E) In the entertainment industry, popularity is key.

This I can largely agree with. (although looks often count in ways rather different on these shows than in real life and even popularity is often a very different thing real world than on these shows, many major successes would’ve been sent packing day 1 by reality tv voting audience)

AMEN!!
The show is about Blake…Carson, Shakira & Adam are so in love with Blake……Oh Blake you are so funny, oh Blake what’s in your cup? oh, i am gonna borrow one of blake’s lines, etc., etc. ENOUGH ALREADY.
The commericals for the show are always about Blake. Talk about pimping.

Some of America does. Most of use run screaming from that awful, cheesy dead brained stuff they do. I was literally embarrassed for Blake; I’d literally rather die than sing that horrible ‘single’ he did on the show.

Sarah was robbed. She was even in the top 50 on iTunes this week. Not super high, but higher than Sasha, Judith and Holly. I don’t understand. The things Sarah can do with her voice are actually genius. I hope she releases something ASAP.

Ok, here’s my take on the itunes thing and I may be totally in left field here…unless the song is quite a few years old and/or the performance is so radically different and great, most people are going to download the song (if they don’t already have it) by its original artist, not a talent show contestant. Example: I already have Kelly’s “Breakaway” so why would I download Amber’s? But that’s just me.

Yeah hopefully the votes that were going to Judith and Sarah swing over the Michelle. That would make it a little harder on Danielle. I think maybe Michelle should show how easy it is to sing a country song and just tear one up on stage! Put all those ‘country’ singers in their place.

I have a feeling we’ll be getting an all country revue next week since that is apparently the only thing voters want to succeed. I still can’t believe the Swon Brothers made it to the top 6. They are entertaining at times, but I can’t believe anyone believes they have the best vocals on the show.

I can’t figure out why Danielle is on top. She does have a great voice, but she is BORING and unemotional and not at all entertaining to watch. Amber, Michelle, and the Swon Brothers are all so much more interesting…

Oh I hope Danielle starts to fall off her pedestal. She is just boring with her young pretty goody goody look, which is probably why the boring majority America loves her. And her voice is just one tone loud

Someone needs to take down Holly, Danielle, and the Swon Brothers, none of them are better than Sarah or Judith.

I’m not surprised by Judith going home though.

But with all the Blake bashing and I love Michelle or Amber (don’t hear much love for Sasha, so surprised she made it through). Lets put it to work next week, let’s one of them top the itune charts. Let anyone but Danielle or Holly win.

This show is called the “VOICE”. Why are you criticizing her looks so much? She’s a beautiful woman with a style that she likes. Seriously, out of most of the contestants she was the only one last night to actually do something entertaining, courageous and creative. She took a song and changed it to something different and did it her way. Others like your precious Danielle (that you seem so stalkery obsessed with) just sat there on a swing and then stood around singing a boring song like she usually does and not connecting with it. Just because you don’t like the way Judith looks doesn’t mean she isn’t an amazing vocalist. So what if she sang a song that features Justin Beiber. She did it nothing like him. She has a different voice and style and she took a song no matter who sings it and did it her own way. I rarely see other contestants taking such risks. Guess people are content with blandness.

Little BillyBob’s comments are always about Judith…..he must have been one of those little meanies who treated her poorly when she was growing up. Judith is a beautiful woman and a great singer. I bet if she looked like Danniele or Adele, she would be heralded here as the greatest.

So surprised that two from Adam’s team was cut at once. It’s now Blake’s team against one from each of the other judges. I was not crazy for Sarah nor Judith but did not expect them to be eliminated before Sasha or the Swon Brothers.

Freaking YES Indeed! America got and BillyBoob it right again! Judith FAILED with her stupid over the top Bieber will.i.am-not over the top Las Vegas performance and Sarah was a complete voice meltdown! Life is good!

Two of the Top Three voices went home, with Sarah having the best female voice this show has seen. Lesson learned: Do NOT pick team Adam (or team Blake, either. You know Blake would have knocked them both out before the live shows, like he did with some massive talent last year). Adam and Blake both screw over their own contestants. That leaves Sasha and Michelle left, for me. Amber was really good last night, but I don’t like her very much, or Adam and Blake, at this point, at all.

Sarah wasn’t close to the best the show has seen. She had moments but she was extremely inconsistent. There were (many) times when her voice actually just disappeared in the middle of a phrase. She had some quality to her voice, but not enough in display.

Sarah, unlike some who have been and are on this show, is not a professional. She needs coaching more than they. She needed Michelle’s coach; that is, one who cared to put her through her paces, and then she’d shine.

Until this week, although she has a strong voice, I thought she was too bland and generic. I still think those things, but less so. She felt the song and understood the lyrics, which is something Danielle has yet to do. Also, the fact that Adam pushed her, stating he wants his team, not Blake’s to produce the first Voice country artist, does not sit well with me. Sarah and Judith are better than Amber, but he bussed them both, but good.

You know honestly, funny you say that. I was starting to think back to.. Amanda from last year. And I thought ADAM was the one who failed her last year – in terms of song choice and maybe some coaching issues. Suddenly – after Judith’s song – I heard something familiar. I swear, beware when Adam makes a BIG point to say “I really was unsure why YOU WANTED me to do this song. It was YOUR idea. And I didn’t get it (blah blah blah) But then I did…. and I like it.”
To me that now translates to mean, “Um America… just so you know, this semi-disaster of a song was actually NOT my idea so do NOT hold me culpable. I do not hold myself culpable. It was my contestant’s random idea. But that’s ok….”
Sure enough, someone gets voted off after that speech. Oh Adam… not good.

I wasn’t surprised Sarah went home. She was great in the blinds and the knockouts but her other performances were either good or just okay.
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I knew Judith was not gonna win but i didn’t think she would be eliminated this early. I think it’s because the song has Justin Bieber on it. Last season, Dez went home because he sung bieber. (or he just sucks idk).

My thought had been that Bieber fans don’t like when someone else covers his songs. So they top voting for the contestant. But I doubt Judith had a lot of Bieber voters to begin with. Maybe it is a combination. Bieber fans are insulted when people cover him, so they don’t vote. Plus his songs are usually not interesting, so the contestant doesn’t pick up a lot of other votes based on song selection.

I agree with letting Sarah go (her song last night was flat and pitchy, as her songs often are), but I’m surprised by Judith. Sasha or Holly should have gone home instead of Judith, IMO. Not that I’m enamored by Judith (in addition to her hairstyles getting ridiculous), but she was better than Sasha, that’s for sure!

Judith ROBBED herself by picking a fricking Bieber involved techno tune. No one to blame except for Judith! Plus, the over the top performance show casing her Marge Simpson hair do. Oh well, American has spoken.

I need to put in my 2 cents real quick. First off im appauled judith got voted off. I guess there can only be 1on black female singer on the voice at a given time but there can be 3on 1/2 country artists in top 6. (Amber can go country but shes so much better when she doesnt) I guess the fact that judith has her stuff together and knows who she wants to be as an artist and also making her fashion presence known (ever heard of anyone named lady gaga people!!) Lastly the song judith sang i actually liked. It was a diff flavor for the voice and it sounded very funky and a little too much funk for beiber to have done it and u didnt even know until the song was over. She takes risks and she was the most versitile contestant. Im rooting for michelle but im ok w/her amber winning too. In a side bar i think sasha sounded really good in duet with swon bros and i love michael but he def is a sasha hater and shes not even my fav

Ok all you people who love Judith so much and Sasha…why didnt you ever buy their music??? Seriously, they were both bottom two on iTunes Charts and have been in the bottom week after week. Maybe should show your love by actually listening and downloading their music. Maybe?

The results kind of blew my mind. I figured that anyone outside of the Michelle/Amber/Danielle trio was at risk, but Sarah and Judith are seriously two of the best singers this year. I really thought that some combination of Holly (for her lack of stage presence or ability to emote), the Swon Brothers (for their forgettable song choice), or Sasha (for her dramatics and goat vibrato) deserved to be the two to go. Judith was seriously amazing and showed such pop potential last night. Sarah wasn’t at her best, but she has really grown from boring balladeer to stage-stomping rocker over the course of the season.
At this point, it might not be worth sitting through a two-hour show just to see Amber and Michelle, so YouTube might be becoming my buddy very quickly post-show.

Sarah is the one with goat vibrato. How can you get on Sasha for that when that is all Sarah does much of the time post her audition.
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It is a shock that Judith is gone so early. Awful. Although it wasn’t a real shock going by comments and iTunes.

Amen to that. To me Michelle, Amber, Danielle and Judith’s performances were outstanding last night and I was totally bummed out when 2 from team adam were voted off. Just looking at Adam’s face makes my heart break. Honestly, I skipped Holly, Swon Brothers and Sasha’s performances last night because I simply could not take it.

Going into tonight’s show, I wasn’t even considering Holly, but she sounded so good in that duet with Amber, I was thinking it’d be a shame if she got voted off tonight.

Sarah’s live voice was very weak. I don’t know if it was nerves, or what, but I fully expected her to go home tonight. The OK/country vote didn’t do that to her. She just never realized her potential in the live shows.

Judith has such a fabulous instrument, but her identity was all over the place, and it’s hard to accrue a voting audience that way.

I hope so. I don’t understand Slezak’s hatred for this girl. Yes, she has a big vibrato, but c’mon! If you’re singing properly, you cannot control the vibrato, it just “happens”. Ask Melinda and she’ll tell you the same thing. A similar criticism was leveled at none other than Jennifer Hudson when she was a lowly singing show contestant. I don’t understand how Slezak consistently places pretty much everyone above Sasha, including contestants who keep getting eliminated. He’s really losing credibility here when he’s putting the Swon Bros above Sasha. And his A- for Judith Hill’s dance ditty disaster? Dude, what are you smoking?! And can I please have some? :o)

For once I strongly agree with you on everything ;).
(other than I thought it was fine for Judith to mix in some modern pop stuff, I think the thing is that you have your own thing where you simply don’t like or get or understand any hint of real pop and thus anti-Angie and anti-Judith when she did pop).

I beg to differ, but different strokes for different folks. I wasn’t anti-Judith, but her last song sucked, man. I mean, really sucked. Shakira’s mea culpa at the top of the show for giving Sasha a dance song calls it like it is. Dance songs are best left for people who can’t sing like Jennifer Lopez. And personally I don’t believe any of Sasha’s performances have been disasters. Maybe you’re agreeing with Slezak where Sasha is worse than Lazaro from Idol? But I think you’re going to be a table for 2 if that’s your call.

Completely Agree..and it’s a perfect comparison to JHUD…How about her AMAZING duet tonight with the SWON bros…!!! Let’s see how he treats that in the recap..it got the response of the night from the live audience…let’s see if that’s a C as well..

Haha, you called it! C! OK maybe with a plus, but whatever. And yet one more dig by Nigel, I mean, is it Nigel though perhaps?, with a “This isn’t to say Judith deserved to go home before lesser talents like Sasha” tossed in for good measure.
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Man the way he is going against Sasha Randy kidnapped him and has taken over the blog. S10 flashbacks!

I wish they had the videos with Melinda going because I bet she’d put a whipping on him for some of unbridled Sasha hate. I mean come on he is scoring her and anything she is in worse than Lazaro and Lazaro duets where he didn’t even recall a single word.

“And I’m telling you I’m not going”? Last time I checked, that was a song. She just happened to win an Oscar for it. Not sure why it would matter whether the song was hers or not when the point is that we know her for her voice.

THANK YOU!!! I was seriously debating about not reading this blog anymore because the author is incredibly biased. You write for TVLine.com, you’re not a critic, show some writing integrity. Everytime I read your Voice recap, I ask myself, “I wonder how much vocal training this guy has had.” One class in college……if that……..right?

The only reason Sasha has haters is because she made herself a force to be reckoned with early on in the show and people kept comparing her to Judith. She has a loyal following, and they saved her last night. And I hope they save her all the way to the finals, just so Slezak can keep giving her a C, because you know you’re doing something write in the entertainment industry when the haters come out to play.

i don’t even like judith but she shouldn’t have gone home…this week should have been sasha and holly, next week the swan brothers and judith or sarah…after that i don’t care as long as the final 2 are amber and michelle with preferably an amber win but i will take michelle too…they’re both amazing!

Blake is getting so darn smug despite the fact that none of his singers ever take risks or have even really had a true “moment” yet this season. At this point last season, Cassadee had “Over You,” Amanda had “Dream On” (and everything else, hehe), and Sylvia had “The One That Got Away.” This season, a few solo moments stand out, like Amber’s “Stay” and Michelle’s “True Colors,” but they weren’t so widely adored like the aforementioned performances that everyone would agree they were “moments” of the season.

Just proves that country is the most popular music genre in America today and definitely among the people above the age of 25 which is most viewers of The Voice. Blake knows what America likes and how to get his team to move on. He learns what his singers sing well and sticks to them singing that. There is no need to be risky when it can fail miserably as it ha all season long.

No it just proves that the viewing/voting demographic of The Voice are country fans living mostly in the heartland. They should just call this The Country Voice and alienate more viewers. Ratings are down.

+1 country is the most popular among reality tv type viewers but it is not most popular when talking the population at large. It is interesting that they both dominate viewing and yet seem to drive down ratings overall (see Idol S10 finale ratings relative dip, an all country finale, I believe the first such dip they had).

And when singers stick to what they do well they are damned for being bland and boring. YOU CAN’T WIN WITH AMERICA. They will screw you either way. I will buy a Judith CD one day when it comes out. She had real talent.

I was very pleased with tonight’s votes. I though they were right on the mark!!! I don’t think Judith should have been allowed on the show as she sang with Michael Jackson (per her), or she was chosen to sing with her. (Per her again).

Cassadee Pope was in a band, Hey Monday, whose album went platinum, had a song on “Glee” when it was in its prime and had a HUGE fan base before stepping foot on The Voice stage.

The Voice is not like American Idol where having a previous record contract or experience will deem you ineligible. It is about finding ARTISTS who haven’t had their chance to shine, though they have talent and a great resume. Have you ever heard of Judith Hill outside of The Voice? Would you have? It was an amazing opportunity.

Saying something doesn’t make it true. Hey Monday was never Platinum in the US. In fact, they got canned by their label. They were like Meg and Dia, an Indy band. Both bands were supported by their labels on the Warped Tour before getting fired. That said, anyone with any level of success can get on The Voice. That’s the way this game is played.

I’m stunned that Judith is out. I think maybe she was put out as a front runner so early that there was some inevitable hostility and resistance. She really did deserve to stay though. That’s just wrong. I’m glad Sarah’s finally gone. I couldn’t stand her voice. Even her performance tonight was a train wreck. Not that Danielle sounded much better in what should have been an easy song for both of them. I wish it had been Sarah and Holly. We now have 3 blonde country singers. I like Amber a lot and hope she stays away from country music or we’re going to overdose on it. I guess Michelle and Amber are my favorites. I’ll keep voting for Amber and even buying her itunes as long as she stays away from country. The little girl wonder, Danielle will probably cruise to victory though. What a shame.

Stunned? Really? Didn’t you see that Judith FAILED last evening? 1st a song involving the gimmick Justin Bieber and then looking like the bird lady with an over the top mile high ponyhawk do. Resulted in going home.

EXACTLY! So, Judith auditioned for The Voice, did extremely well (top 8), but lacked “IT” again with the voting public. All the best to Judith, she is very talented indeed! But some how not connecting with the public.

Put her in front of the real world, outside of a contest and ask people what they think and I bet she gets approval. On reality tv it’s so easy for people to turn on you and want to jealously punish someone for this or that, such as being too polished to belong or whatever. I mean maybe she won’t connect, but she’d surely do better than this.

Being dropped by a label doesn’t necessarily mean an artist is never going to make it. A lot of it is packaging, if you are given the right package at the right time you’re more likely to succeed as a commercial artist.

I’m sorry – and I really don’t want to start an argument – but it really is insulting to read these comments when you happen to think generally the same way America voted…. If you want a contest that is 100% “unique talent” then maybe they should just do it on the radio and stop with the production value, period. Never mind the sparkly dresses, the really white teeth, or the fake eyelashes too.
It’s really about what keeps the largest number of people watching. I can tell that the Swon brothers aren’t quite as “talented” or the unique artiste’ that Michelle is, but I frankly enjoy listening to them much more than I do Michelle. They’re fun. I like their blend, even if nerves make them less than perfect all the time. And Danielle fascinates me because – despite her forward stare as she tries to remember the words – you can tell she is gifted and will be something special. Michelle’s voice is beautiful, and she is talented, but I just don’t enjoy her style of music.
So sue me!

This might actually be my favorite post ever. Not because I agree with it (I personally am rooting for Michelle to go really far), but it was so darn polite. I mean, this might seem like a lame comment, but sometimes I feel like people forget that everyone has their own opinion. Everyone in the Top 6 is good; I think it all depends on what kind of music you prefer. I really like how positive your comment was.

@Lilly- I’d never thought about it, but a radio show like this would be awesome. They could play it on the IHeart network or something. I don’t suppose there’s a way to keep everyone’s identity a secret. It would truly be about singing then. No hot women or guys the women drool over. It would be just about who’s the best singer. As long as the show is on tv, personalities & such are going to factor in as well as voices.
For what it’s worth, I think America has gotten it pretty spot on so far this season. I like all of the top 8. I just think a radio show like this would be awesome. Great idea ya have.

FINALLY, someone else on here that loves The Swon Brothers besides me. You’re the first one I’ve seen. They may not have the best voices on this show, but they have GOOD voices, and great personalities, and people won’t vote for artists who have great voices but aren’t interesting (like Judith – she never made a personal connection to the audience, and I think that’s why she’s gone already). To make it in the business, you have to be able to sing well AND sell yourself as a person and make people like you. If people don’t like you, you’re not going to make it. I was raised on country music my entire life, and while I listen to tons of other genres now that I’m in my 20’s (yes, I’m in my 20’s – not all country music fans are over 40 like someone up there alluded to), but I know a good country duo when I see one, because I’ve seen a LOT of them over the years. The Swon Brothers could be huge in the country music world, and the only people who don’t think that are people who don’t like, or listen to, country music. (Btw, I do happen to love Michelle, and Amber, as well, I just don’t think The Swon Brothers deserve the hate they’ve been getting.)

People love Blake Shelton. And he has made a very successful career being fun and likable. His teams are always fun and likable, and he plays to their strengths. It’s not about being bland, or taking or not taking risks. It’s about being an artist people identify with and want to support. Sarah and Judith unfortunately came across as having no personalities.

I’m surprised Holly is still here because she and Amber are basically interchangeable. If they’d both been on Team Blake, one of them probably wouldn’t have made it past the battle rounds, but the battles and knockouts were crazy with the wrong people kept and the wrong people saved and people not on the right teams. So we ended up with a wacky top 12–with too many great interesting artists on the boxing ring floor–and it has filtered down from there. But Holly for as sweet and bland as she is, seems like a nice girl who’s trying to finish school and work hard and she’s having a good time. I don’t know a thing about Judith or Sarah and they don’t smile or look like they are enjoying themselves. Sarah looked mad all the time and Judith with her reserve could easily be construed as having a “too good for this” attitude or at least no personality at all. Not to mention that not everyone thinks Michael Jackson was the best human being and she has a polished voice and stage presence, but it wasn’t the strongest and she had a very limited range in the upper register, but none of that would have mattered if she’d just opened up and been more likable. The best thing Shakira did for Sasha was get her to smile and shimmy and look like she was having fun singing. Despite Usher’s best tries, Michelle stays a personality that people can get behind, feel like they know who she is, identify with, and vote for. Sweet and fun are going to beat closed off and unhappy.

How exactly are Holly and Amber interchangeable? Amber has *proven* her versatility by nailing challenging NON-COUNTRY pop songs like “Skyfall” as well as putting her own stamp on songs like Rihanna’s “Stay.” What has Holly done? Sung a gospel hymn? lol. Actually the two that ARE interchangeable are Holly and DANIELLE, who do nothing but corny country songs over and over again and refuse to challenge themselves.

I agree with you 100% about Amber. What I THINK they meant was, in the battle rounds, before we knew these girls and their voice abilities – they are very similar. From the same state, same hair color, same genre – they could have potentially been matched together to face each other in the battle rounds. I may be completely wrong, but that is what I understood.

Judith and Sarah had more personality than Holly and Sarah, and better voices too. I’ll give the Swan Bros some credit into having the adorable bro vibe going. But I”m tired of Danielle and Holly blank stares while they sing a pretty song. I hope that by some miracle that they both go home next week. I know that will not happen at all with the stupid teeny boppers who like generic crap downloading her songs blindly each week.

Blake may “let them sing with they want” but he gives them personality and he gives them confidence. He even made Jerome Paul look like he was a fun dude. Holly’s getting better whereas Amber looks sad and scared most of the time and Amber definitely started out stronger. Blake rubs off. He takes his team to a karaoke bar to show the audience his team has fun and likes each other. Blake isn’t stupid and neither are his fans and it is rude to treat them that way. Fact of the matter is popular songs are popular because people liked the song, messing it up doesn’t necessarily win you fans. Judith and Sarah didn’t have better voices and more importantly they didn’t sing songs people wanted to own. #crapsong from Judith–the original was way high on itunes, but her version wasn’t. And Sarah sang a song that not only has been covered to death it has been parodied to death, and she didn’t sing it well. Sarah screwed up the melodies in everyone of her songs this season. It’s not generic crap, it’s country. And people don’t blindly spend money, they choose to support artists to own songs they want to listen to again and with whom they can identify.

Better than Holly, but it’s not like she was in the running to compete with Danielle. Her iTunes numbers weren’t that good–compare it to last season. The only thing anybody is really buying is Danielle and sometimes Michelle (especially last night). Hitting the top 30 and not the top 10 last season would have been considered pretty dismal, so she’s certainly not selling much of her tired old songs with messed up tones and “creative” melody rearrangement.

I literally have been fast forwarding my DVRd Voice episodes to watch Judith and Michelle so next week it will only take me 5 minutes to blow this this mediocrity!!! I’m so pissed off as I was to excited for the potential of this show a few weeks ago. How the F$CK did Judith get voted off BEFORE Sasha/swon/holly?? Whatever. JUDITH YOU ARE DESTINED FOR SUCCESS DESPITE THIS SHOW!! It’s better that you didn’t win anyway given the track record of their “winners”. Iooking forward to your album!!

This show is not enough for me to sit through the likes of Holly, The Swon Brothers, and Sasha (and Danielle sometimes frankly) and be okay with masterful contestants like Judith and Sarah go home. I don’t think I’ll be watching, but I’m backing Amber and Michelle.

Same here… the other four bore me to tears. I used to think Holly could win, but she’s so robotic on stage that she’s 100% out next week, probably along with the Swon Bros. so that everyone has a representative in the Final Four

Perhaps it just might be that country music is much more popular than most of the commenters on here think. Think about it–4 of the top 6 are primarily country artists–they didn’t split votes from each other to get there. They just dominated the “frontrunners” Judith and Sarah and got them voted out. Don’t they just eliminate one contestant next week? I’d say Sasha’s in the most trouble. Then Michelle can gather all the “rock” voters and try and conquer all the country voters.
But one things for sure–don’t be a cyberbully. These kids read these boards. Would you want someone writing hate mail to your kids?

That’s a factor. But you have to be honest here. Sarah was a hot mess vocally on her song and Judith was a hot mess with her over the top Las Vegas style performance. Picking a tune featuring Justin Bieber loses valuable points too!

I agree, Billy Bob. Judith had the death slot–and she hasn’t really shown any “growth” that unbiased voters like to see. I thought Sarah peaked way too early. I’m actually most surprised that it was Sarah and not Sasha gone, based on the usually reliable iTunes charts.

I’ll be honest. I thought Sarah nailed her song. You clearly don’t understand the difficult progression of notes that Sarah attempted and mostly managed to hit. There were all kinds of really cool minor note progressions in there which showed her artistry. Just because you don’t like an artist’s style, does not mean you are in the right by trolling these boards and insulting anyone who disagrees with your personal preference.

The biggest mistake for Judith is not keeping her performances simple. Her over the top performances just screams— I’M FREAKING BADASS! LOOK AT MY HAIR, MY CAPE. MY VOICE! We the people, don’t like arrogant people! So Judith is GONE GONE GONE by Phillip Phillips.

I like country music, but it is frustrating to see all singing shows turning into country music singing competitions, not much diversity within music. Also, regardless of singers, ond team seems to rule over the others, originally based on singing I thought it might be team Adam, but I forgot that everybody in America usually votes country music and other genres of music will just have to do with leftovers.
Very, very sorry for Judith and Sarah.

1000% agree. The *voters* are a bunch of Blake Shelton-loving sheep with ZERO ear for complex musical artistry. Does anyone really see a Holly Tucker album outselling a Sarah Simmons album? How about the Snore Bros winning a grammy instead of Judith Hill? Give me an effin break. I still can’t get Sasha’s miserable bleating version of ‘Without You’ out of my brain. PATHETIC America. For all the ‘country defenders/Sarah Simmons bashers-Blake said Sarah is one of the best singers he has ever heard in his LIFE-oh, about 5 times. He never said that about ANY of his team, other than calling Danielle ‘important.’ Judith’s performance was awesome-she could hold a concert tomorrow. Sarah, my girl got a crap song from Adam, and she has every ability to sing a straight, bland, pitch perfect song like Danielle, and fade into the backdrop-but why would she, when she is vocal master? I vote for talent, risk taking. Not people that are just technically proficient but uninteresting. #BIGFAIL America.

PREDICTIONS:
Sarah and Judith will go on to record albums and have killer careers. Sarah may have had off moments live, but at least she took risks. Her studio recordings are incredible.

Sasha & Holly go home next week-Sasha resumes her backup career,we see talented, bland Holly doing backup for Blake during season 6.

Snore Bros and Amber the following week, Snore Bros gain an undeserved career through Blake, Amber becomes a star like Kelly Clarkson.

Michelle or Danielle win it all-it will come down to Blake’s country marketing power or Usher’s ‘eyeglasses’ marketing power. Michelle will sing either a power ballad in a crouch, or a Pink song while she punches the air. Danielle will sing another boring country song with zero range and itunes will explode.
$%!& you America and your underdogitis
I will FF the tivo through every boring country performance and stop briefly to see if Sasha got a decent song and doesn’t bleat it to death; watch Amber and pray that she will somehow win, watch Michelle to see if she changes up anything, and turn off my tv when the balloons rain down on Danielle and her goofy tween grin as she snaps a ‘selfie’. #bitter.

I’m with you no longer watching show it’s a joke Adam’s girl’s have the most talent of all the singers there. Blake still has 3 LOLLLLL Shakira 1 LOLLLL. With out a doubt Shakira and Blake should have lost tonight Adam WOW. The public doesn’t know talent look at who’s famous now Justin Bieber One Direction pathetic. Could someone from NBC answer this why was I able to get thru 4 times each for those top 6 no problem but when I tried for Sara Simmons for a hole hour I got nothing but busy signal mmmmmmmmmm FISHY

Ya, that smells to high heaven-her itunes songs are selling bigtime and are incredible. She’s such a lovely person-she tweeted me and a lot of her fans to.thank us every time we voted. I will never forget the chills I got from her ‘One of Us’ audition-I must have watched it 50 times-best audition of any singer period. She is the most exciting voice I have heard in years, and I work in the industry. I hope hope hope she lands a record deal (and Judith for that matter) the quasi musical ‘experts’ on here don’t know how difficult it is to sing perfectly live, especially when you have 4 distinct vocal ranges. I honestly did feel like she lost confidence as the competition progressed-she mentioned something that sounded like she was going through a breakup (dark haired dude from audition?) I hope to God it wasn’t from reading the ignorant people on these boards who were making remarks about her weight n crap (um the VOICE you cretins). I don’t have any hate for the remaining contestants, I’m just don’t feel that some of them deserve to still be there compared to Sarah

Then votes will be concentrated on one or two singers and there will be no any chance for others. At this point it is clear that Amber or Danielle is bound to win unless The Voice suddenly wants to manipulate something for unknown reason, like AI bused Angie Miller at top3 night and hit its own feet.

Amber or Danielle winning is in the best interest of The Voice for it to take advantage of the weak moment of AI.

I think song choice is the main key. Pick one that’s not very popular nowadays or pick popular one and change it up to make people want to buy YOUR version on iTunes (I’m talking about casual non-voting viewers). Blake could have purposefully sacrificed Holly (for the other two) by giving her Done but she actually improved with that song.

Adam picking Gotye’s song… well, very few people want to hear ANOTHER version of it, unless Sarah kills it and she didn’t, unfortunately.
Judith picking Bieber song also proved to be backfiring…
Amber actually nailed Skyfall and she projected enough emotion to make people want to buy.
Danielle’s song choice was not common, Swon Bros’ was quite different. Sasha was good but people voted her in for Shakira, I think.

Now Michelle can sing anything and will be entertaining no matter what.

Did anyone else wonder why Adam chose Adele for Amber, when he stated in the comments afterward that no one does it well? I have had the feeling that he never thought she would make it as far as she has. And I am so glad that she has… despite Adam.

Completely disagree. Adam managed to get Amber the closer pimp spot 2 separate weeks. Amber was his personal choice in his quest to beat Blake at his own country game. Sarah was who Adam didn’t mind selling out…that horrible Gotye song for her voice???? That horrible Gotye song that he had the little girl with the striped hair do last year?? If he had it in his mind to have an alternative artist, then he should have stayed with Caroline Glaser. Blake has ruined the show and Adam has helped him.